Sacrificing School Safety
by Lily Newhouse
Columbine. Virginia Tech. These are names that will always be associated with school massacre.
But what do they have in common with the war on terror? Everything.
School shootings are far more widespread than most of us might realize. We know the name Columbine, but what about Henry Foss High School, Delaware State University or Cleveland High School? All of these schools were scenes of gun violence in 2007. Students walked in with guns and opened fire on classmates and teachers.
And before these shootings? Think Nickel Mines Amish School, October 3, 2006. Carl Charles Roberts IV walked into a one-room schoolhouse and shot 10 schoolgirls – girls who had probably never even seen gun violence on the news.
If students are walking into schools with loaded guns, what makes us think we’re safe? What would keep another Roberts from opening fire at Elizabethtown College?
After the Virginia Tech shooting, Gov. Tim Kaine commissioned a review board to find out what went wrong and what more could be done. The panel found that some colleges in Virginia are unclear about firearm possession policies on campus. Elizabethtown’s policy is pretty clear. As page 51 of the Student Handbook states, among prohibited items are “fireworks, air rifles, pellet guns, pistols, firearms, knives, weapons, ammunition, gunpowder, explosives…” College officials are permitted to visually inspect rooms and may be warranted to search further if they have “reasonable suspicion.”
But come on – we all know there are no metal detectors, no real room searches, no everyday procedures for assuring our safety. It would take violating our privacy on a regular basis to truly make us safer.
The Virginia Tech review panel criticized the school’s administrators for not notifying the campus about the initial shootings until two hours later. According to Dean Marianne Calenda, Elizabethtown students are notified of emergencies through Campus News, e-mail, the College home page, telephone and Residence Life staff alerts. The Dean also said that the school is “currently investigating other types of notification systems which may include cell phone text messages.” However, this doesn’t exist yet.
Roberts walked right into the Nickel Mines schoolhouse and began shooting. Although residence halls are locked, classrooms and administrative buildings cannot be locked during school hours. Residence halls have either electronic or key locks. Dean Calenda stated that in order to improve safety, “the College should install electronic locks on all residential facility entrances.” I, personally, have seen students open electronically locked doors without an ID. The door to Brinser Residence Hall closest to the Brinser parking lot used to open if kicked hard enough. And even if these buildings are secure, many students will hold the door for others, whether or not they recognize that individual.
So, do I criticize Etown for being lax in its security? No. Although there are ways the school could improve, there is a serious effort made to keep students safe. The reality is that nothing the school does will matter, unless students are willing to sacrifice their fundamental privacy.
And isn’t that really the exact same question behind the fight over President Bush’s warrantless surveillance? Isn’t it the same question behind the fact that President Bush has held hundreds of so-called enemy combatants at Guantanamo Bay for years without their constitutional right of habeas corpus? The President says that violating – or, as he would probably say, bending – these laws and rights is the price we must pay for security in an age of terrorism. We all want security, right – whether on campus, in downtown Elizabethtown or anywhere we go? The question is: how willing are we to trade a measure of freedom for a measure of security? Room searches? Car searches? Wiretaps?
Where do we draw the line?
